Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) Shares Purchased by Summit X LLC

Summit X LLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL) by 173.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,557 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,157 shares during the quarter. Summit X LLC’s holdings in Oracle were worth $1,093,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ORCL. State Street Corp increased its stake in Oracle by 2.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 70,441,556 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $12,003,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,561 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,194,683 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $5,977,015,000 after purchasing an additional 885,041 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Oracle by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,480,384 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $3,370,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917,416 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Oracle by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 17,995,664 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock valued at $2,998,798,000 after purchasing an additional 97,635 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of Oracle by 0.4% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,608,951 shares of the enterprise software provider’s stock worth $2,489,345,000 after acquiring an additional 54,868 shares during the period. 42.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ORCL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Oracle in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Oracle from $212.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Oracle in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Oracle in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $178.92.

Oracle Stock Performance

Shares of ORCL stock opened at $144.29 on Wednesday. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $112.78 and a one year high of $198.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.65, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $166.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $403.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.07.

Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.02). Oracle had a return on equity of 133.25% and a net margin of 21.16%. The company had revenue of $14.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Oracle Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Oracle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. This is a positive change from Oracle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Oracle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.12%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 2,101,154 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.35, for a total value of $389,448,893.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $207,331,027.20. This represents a 65.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 42.20% of the company’s stock.

Oracle Profile

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.